Middle school part of St. John's Prep expansion plans

St. John’s Preparatory School announced an ambitious expansion plan on Monday, May 6, that will include a middle school, a new science and technology building and a wellness center.

Jeff Pope/Wicked Local Danvers

St. John’s Preparatory School announced an ambitious expansion plan on Monday, May 6, that will include a middle school, a new science and technology building and a wellness center.

“It’s a very significant and ambitious plan,” said Headmaster Edward Hardiman, who noted the proposed plans would be on the same scope as all the previous upgrades combined.

The Prep 20/20, the name given to the expansion plan, was the culmination of three years of research and conversation with alumni, students, faculty, staff and parents, according to Bernard Caniff, chairman of the Prep’s board of trustees.

“I’m confident that the plans outlined today will strengthen and enrich the Prep experience for future generations,” Caniff said.

Founded in 1907, St. John's Prep is a Catholic, Xaverian Brothers-sponsored secondary school for boys. It has an enrollment of 1,150 and is located on Summer and Spring streets in Danvers.

Middle school

The biggest change will be the middle school. Brother Benjamin Hall, which was built in 1963 and remodeled since then, currently houses an assortment of high school classes, along with the main school offices, the admissions department, the bookstore and counseling offices. It will be converted into the middle school.

Hardiman said the middle school would be self-contained, meaning that there would be only limited interaction between the high school students and the middle-schoolers.

During the spring and summer of 2015, Brother Benjamin Hall, which is located on the east side of Summer Street, will be renovated to provide for arts classes, a library and a dining space for the middle-schoolers.

Hardiman said the middle school curriculum would be aligned with the curriculum at the high- school level.

“We see this program as an opportunity to strengthen and further develop the overall Prep experience,” Hardiman said.

An associate principal for grades 6-8/director of the middle school program will hopefully be hired by this July, said Hardiman. That person will spend the next year — from July 2013 to July 2014 — designing a curriculum and researching best practices for middle-school programs, according to Hardiman. The following year, the middle-school director will spend hiring staff and recruiting students.

The middle school will include about 100 boys in each grade, increasing the number of students on the St. John’s Prep campus from about 1,150 to over 1,400. Hardiman said that the goal was to keep class sizes similar to the high school classes, which is 18 students per class. Hardiman did not know how many teachers would be hired. The Prep faculty now numbers 110.

The middle school would open in September 2015, Hardiman said there would be no “phase-in” of the school, that it would open with as many as the 100 boys in each grade.

Hardiman also said that tuition for the middle school would be about 85 percent of the cost of the high school tuition. According to the Prep’s website, tuition is $19,950. Eighty-five percent of that would be $16,950.

New high school building

Construction on the new building for science, math and technology classes would begin in April 2014, with completion in the spring on 2015. It would be located where the tennis courts are now located on Spring Street, next to the Ryken Center for the Arts.

“By combing math, science and computer science and technology teachers in the same building we are creating an atmosphere that is encouraging collaboration in those disciplines as well,” said Hardiman.

In addition to the classrooms, the building will include new administrative offices, counseling offices and common areas, according to Hardiman. He noted that the Robotics team, a very successful club that has development over the past couple of years, does not have a dedicated space at present, but the new building will offer that.

Hardiman said it was too early to set a price tag on the cost of the new building. It would be in the range of 60,000 to 65,000 square feet, a size similar to Xavier Hall.

Hardiman added that school officials have met with town officials about the expansion project.

Wellness center

While the wellness center is the third initiative in the Prep 20/20 plan, the details are still sketchy.

“Our goal with the wellness center is to develop a facility to give all members of the Prep community — our faculty, our staff and our students — the opportunity to engage in the fitness aspects of wellness and to develop a commitment to fitness for life,” said Hardiman.

The building would be located between Cronin Stadium, the football field, and the Brother Linus Athletic Commons, practice fields for several teams.

Hardiman said that the Prep’s team was just beginning the process to raise the funds for the wellness center “so in the next four to five years we can begin construction on this project.”

The wellness center would also be used for interscholastic and intramural athletic programs.

Asked what the future held for Memorial Gym, the Prep’s current indoor gymnasium, Hardiman said that once the wellness center was completed, Memorial Gym would be dedicated to the middle school program.

Growing endowment

The final part of the Prep 20/20 plan would be to increase the endowment, allowing the Prep to award more tuition assistance to qualified students.

According to the Prep’s website, about $3.1 million is given out in need-based tuition assistance and merit scholarships to some 30 percent of our students.

“Our dream and our vision is to develop the resources as a school to assure than no qualified young man is ever denied a Prep education for financial reasons,” said Hardiman. “We believe that the vision of Prep 20/20 establishes St. John’s Prep as an inclusive Catholic Xavarian Brothers-sponsored school for boys in grades 6 through 12. This is really an exciting and energetic time in the life of Prep community.”